Cylinder Reconditioning

Cylinder Reconditioning

LN Engineering is proud to offer cylinder reconditioning, including NSC plating of chromal (chrome), ferral (i.e. flame-spray, splatter or sputter-coat), and other vintage cast aluminum or even cast iron cylinders.

We understand the need to preserve originality and strive to modernize or restore even the oldest or most worn-out of cylinders! All starting around $200 per cylinder!

Even tired worn out 86mm cast iron cylinders can benefit from our NSC plating,
shown here restored to 86mm with our NSC plating, which are best complemented by our custom JE Pistons. Our NSC plating offers improved performance with less wear, typically matched by a reduction in oil temperatures, even on cast iron bores!

Another popular service we offer is reconditioning of factory alloy (aluminum) cylinders. Many of these originally came on the 356 with chrome or ferral (flame-spray iron) platings/coatings that are now inferior or more likely, worn out. We can strip these cylinders and either plate them to the original size with new superior forged pistons or over-bore them to a larger size for more displacement (more HP and torque). In most cases these factory aluminum cylinders will outperform any cast iron cylinder with improved cooling and provide superior performance and longevity, second only to a set of Nickies™. This includes rare four cam aluminum alloy cylinders, and reconditioned in-spec pistons for match honing to the replated cylinder and used piston we coat to build up ring lands and fill in piston wear or scuffing to achieve the best longevity possible from your reconditioned pistons and cylinders.

An example of a four cam piston and cylinder set that has been re-plated and match honed to a reconditioned piston that has been coated to better than new condition.

If you have an aluminum cylinder that is damaged where there plating or coating is gouged, we can fix that too. With careful welding, we can build up the area and have the cylinder bored out and plated back to it’s original size. We also offer cryogenic treatment of used and repaired cylinders and pistons.

Many people have biral cylinders that are old and otherwise un-useable. We can ever so slightly overbore the biral-type 82.5mm cylinders typically found on late Porsche 356 and 912 models. We bore and hone these cylinders to 83 or 83.50mm and for most stock or mild rebuilds, these provide superior performance again to cast iron cylinders. We also offer this same service for biral Porsche 911 model cylinders. However, due to performance issues, we do not offer our NSC plating for use on biral-type cylinders.

Chromal Porsche 356 model cylinder before replating.

A stock Porsche 356 alloy 82.5mm cylinder that has been stripped, bored, and plated to 86mm

Do you have a set of 95mm 3.2 Carrera cylinders that are worn out (not ovaled or otherwise damaged due to over-boost or overheating/detonation) or do you just want to upgrade to 98mm? We do that too and can fit them with a wide selection of custom JE Pistons. In fact, most factory cylinders can be reconditioned and even fitted with larger pistons.

Although there are new cast cylinders available from many sources, the factory castings are superior in most every respect and as long as they have not been abused, can be reconditioned. The factory 3.3 turbo half-finned cylinders are one exception- they should not be re-plated or reused in our opinion. The same goes for any cylinder that is severely ovaled or distorted from overheating or damaged from detonation or over-boost. Tell tale signs of this damage can be found by performing a visual inspection of the sealing surface, rings, and pistons for detonation. Rockwell testing can also be used to test if any one cylinder is significantly softer than the others, it is suspect to be bad and should be replaced. If the history of a set of 911 cylinders cannot be ascertained, I would go as far as to recommend not reconditioning them, as your finished product is only as good as what you start with. If every cylinder were reusable, there wouldn’t be a need for new cylinders!